Alumni Around the Web
Health Researcher Laura Kahn *02

“Human behavior and activities such as environmental destruction lead to the emergence and spread of mosquito-borne viruses” such as Zika, according to health researcher Laura Kahn *02. In a column for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Kahn writes:

Global travel isn’t the only way humans help spread mosquito-borne diseases. By destroying forests and other ecosystems, we have inadvertently created incentives for mosquitoes to seek new habitats—namely densely populated urban areas. Climate change is theoretically another driving force behind the expanding geographical range of certain mosquito species, although right now, the data is too limited to make any definitive conclusions.